Little Rhino

One day a little rhino was romping around in the forest.
He was just about to go looking for some juicy mango trees
when…Swish!....

Chapter One Meet Little Rhino

Meet Little Rhino. He might look like an ordinary rhino
but he's not. Little Rhino has a heart of a lion, though he may
look plain and ugly, he is beautiful on the inside.

One day a little rhino was romping around in the forest.
He was just about to go looking for some juicy mango trees
when…Swish!....Little Rhino found himself being hoisted into the
air, by one leg, he turned his head desperately only to see the
Rhino Hunters or "RH", everyone called them "RH" as the name was
too terrible to say out loud. " Oh No!" thought Little Rhino.
Little Rhino tried furiously to tear himself out of the thick net
with his horn, but the RH were ready for him.
"Clink!Fling!Clink!Fling!" Two tiny tranquiliser darts hit Little
Rhino and pierced his skin as he collapsed in a heap. The RH
loaded Little Rhino into a van and drove off into the not so
pretty sunset.

Chapter Two Where does Little Rhino go?

At last the RH van stopped, two RH workers arrived on
the scene strained as they struggled to lug Little Rhino out of
the trailer, the most senior worker, who had been driving the van
got out of the van and locked it with a Clunk! He then helped
the two struggling workers drag the sleepy Little Rhino into the
smallest enclosure. Then all three workers walked home making
rude comments about overweight rhinos all the way.

Little Rhino woke with a start. "I don't like it here I
want to go home". He thought the instant he opened his eyes. He
was fed a disgusting breakfast of mouldy grass when he wanted
mangoes. After breakfast an important looking man came to his
enclosure. "Move Creature!" he yelled. Little Rhino got up
wearily what does he want, Little Rhino wondered. The important
looking man was looking angry as he summoned one of the other
workers who led Little Rhino out of his enclosure. The important
looking man produced a whip and began beating Little Rhino for
all he was worth. "Ow!Oww!OOWWW!!"

Chapter Three What happens next to Little Rhino and
the important looking man?

"Perhaps this will teach you a lesson you ugly beast! The
important looking man yelled between whips. The terrible beating
lasted a whole hour and to make things worse, two workers started
clapping along to whips chanting "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"

"Now will you do as you are told creature!?"Little
Rhino's bum was very sore by now so he did as he was told and
began romping unhappily around the dusty ground. "Faster! Faster"
The important looking man commanded but Little Rhino couldn't go
any faster so he tried to stay at the a same pace he was running
at. Just for that he was told to stop running so the important
looking man could beat him . By the time the important looking
man had finished beating him, his bum a red as if he had been
sitting on a bed of porcupines. "Put the creature back into his
enclosure!" The important looking man yelled at the two workers
as Little Rhino lumbered slowly and painfully back to his
enclosure and they moved to lock him back in. "Oh No! When will
I ever be free?" thought Little Rhino.

Chapter Four Little Rhino makes some
friends

When Little Rhino woke up the next morning, he was
surrounded by small creatures in enclosures. The creatures
didn't seem to be enjoying their imprisoned time any more than
Little Rhino was.

Suddenly the creature in the enclosure next to him
slithered up. "Hiss" Little Rhino looked round to see a green
snake with ruby red dots imprinted on its body. Luckily Little
Rhino had been taught how to understand every animal of the
jungle when he still lived with his family and friends. He knew
very well that the snake had said; "Hi my name Rubyella. I don't
like it here and the food is terrible. Will you help me escape?"
Little Rhino also knew how to respond to every animal in the
jungle so he said; "I could try but we might not succeed with
only the two of us." "That's ok" Rubyella replied "I have my
whole family trapped with me". "At least you know your family
are safe, I have no way of knowing" thought Little Rhino sadly.
As if she had read his mind Rubyella said "Well, we will stick
together till we have escaped".

Chapter Five Rubyella and Little Rhino make
plans.

That afternoon Rubyella and Little Rhino spent most of
their time thinking of ways to escape. "What if I distract the RH
while you unlock yourself with your horn Little Rhino?" "That
would never work because how would you and your family
escape?"

"No, I have much better idea, my family taught me how to
make fire by rubbing my horn on metal. These cage bars are surely
metal enough I will melt bars by setting light to them".

"So we will escape at night?" asked Rubyella looking
worried. "Of course we will that's the safest time", said Little
Rhino.

"Now all I have to do is to persuade my family to escape
with me" said Rubyella.

"Ok go and tell your family to come with us. Come on!
Rubyella!"

Chapter Six The Big Argument

" Mum! Dad! Come quickly" yelled Rubyella. Two identical
snakes slivered out from behind a log " what do you want
Rubyella?" "Lower your voice and come to the end of our
enclosure" said Rubyella . "Now listen to me and Little Rhino
please?" " Ok, listen Little Rhino and I have decided to escape
and you are coming with us"

"No way" said Rubyella's dad " Never ever" said
Rubyella's mum. " Ok will you just calm down and listen?" said
Little Rhino " I am going to make a fire and melt the bars of my
enclosure then I will do the same to yours." " Ok, we will go
along with this plan but only to prove that it will never work"
said Rubyella's mum and dad in unison. "Right well that's sorted
now I think, we had all better take a long nap so we have enough
energy to escape tonight." "Right you are" said Rubyella
and everyone settled down for a long nap.

Chapter Seven The Escape preparations
begin

Little Rhino woke up at 6.00pm he shook Rubyella awake.
"Get up get up!" he yelled. Rubyella scrambled to her tail and
woke up her mum and dad. "Right. I think we will be able to
escape at 9.00pm because we have a lot of things to prepare" said
Little Rhino. "First I have to check if this fire thing really
works" muttered Little Rhino to himself . He rubbed his horn on
the metal bars which started to get a bit warmer and several
minutes later and to everyone's delight a flame licked at the
bars.

" Right Rubyella collect as much of that disgusting grass
as you can because we will need something to eat while we are
escaping" said Little Rhino. "I'm on it" said Rubyella and she
began collecting the disgusting grass and tying them into neat
little bundles with more disgusting grass.

Chapter Eight the actual escape begins.

The clock struck 9.00pm all the RH workers had left for
the day. "Ok here we go" said Little Rhino. He charged forward
and rubbed his horn against the bars. The flame licked at the
bars once, twice and yes! The bars began to melt and bend. "Way
to go little rhino" cheered Rubyella's family. " I'm free I'm
free" chanted Little Rhino " hang on guys I'll get you out of
there in two secs." Little Rhino charged against Rubyella's
enclosure and rubbed his horn against the bars once again the
flame licked the bars once, twice and yay! They were free. "Where
shall we go now" Rubyella asked, " hmm… Where indeed?" murmured
Little Rhino, thoughtfully.

Chapter Nine Where do Rubyella and Little Rhino
go?

"Well I've already got all my family with me" said
Rubyella "I'll feel mean just leaving you out here all by
yourself. I will reunite you with your family". "If you insist"
said Little Rhino "though it will probably take ages to track
them down".

So Rubyella, her family and Little Rhino set off towards
the forest. But to Little Rhino's despair the forest was is ruins
by the time he and Rubyella had reached it. There were birds
squawking in distress.

Suddenly Rubyella's mum flopped down on the floor and
mumbled "I can't possibly go on". "Ma! Ma! What's the matter?"
Rubyella shouted in her ear. "Get me to Dr. Slippery" she mumbled
before flopping down on Rubyella's dad. Rubyella looked at her
dad "What's wrong with her Pa?" "We must get her to Dr Slippery
straight away" said Rubyella's dad looking very pale. " I know
how to deal with this- stay right here" said Little Rhino.
Little Rhino ran up to a mango tree and bumped into it a mango
tree leaf fell. Little Rhino grasped it and ran to where Rubyella
was "put her on this" he said breathless from running. Rubyella
and Rubyella's dad struggled to put Rubyella's mum onto the mango
tree leaf. "There" said Little Rhino " I will grasp one end,
Rubyella grab the other" " and you slither next to Rubyella's
mum." Said Little Rhino pointing to Rubyella's dad.

Chapter Ten What happens to Rubyella's
mum?

Rubyella and Little Rhino struggled with the weight of
Rubyella's mum. "What way are we going Little Rhino?" Rubyella
asked. She had never been invited to any of the appointments her
mum had had previously. So she had never seen or heard of Dr
Slippery and quite clearly did not know the way. " We have a long
journey to Dr Slippery's clinic we must travel all night" said
Little Rhino unhappily.

"Won't we get a chance to rest?" inquired Rubyella's dad
. " No" answered Little Rhino sounding even unhappier. So
Rubyella and Little Rhino lumbered on with Rubyella's mum on the
makes-shift mango leaf stretcher. "We will have to travel north
for most of the night then we travel east at the fork, just as
the moon starts going down" directed Little Rhino. With that he
increased his lumber to a trot and Rubyella increased her slow
slithering to a speedier method of slithering. Rubyella's dad
however began to slow down even more. At which point he thought
it was a good idea to jump onto the stretcher as well, without
warning, Rubyella and Little Rhino collapsed under the extra
weight, unconscious.

When Rubyella and Little Rhino finally gained conscious
they continued to lug Rubyella's mum. Luckily when they had
collapsed unconscious they were not far off from the clinic so
they arrived a short while later. "At last !" said Rubyella they
set Rubyella's mum on the floor and rapped at the door. Suddenly
a snake slithered to the door and opened it "Hello?" he wheezed.
"This is Dr Slippery" said Little Rhino proudly Dr Slippery
appeared to be bright blue with bright green spots imprinted on
him.

Rubyella and Little Rhino lugged Rubyella's mum inside,
Rubyella quietly hissed at her dad to wait outside. This he did
gladly as Rubyella's dad was not fond of clinics or hospitals or
doctors either, now he thought about it. When Rubyella and Little
Rhino had staggered inside with Rubyella's mum Dr Slippery asked
what the problem was, " She just collapsed we were helping Little
Rhino here to find his family and she just collapsed in the
forest" Rubyella explained and Little Rhino filled in the gaps.
"I see what has happened here" said Dr Slippery " she has fainted
of lack of sleep". "Get to a nice cosy place to sleep for a day
or two" " Goodbye!"

Chapter Twelve Finding a cosy place to
sleep

"What's wrong with her ? What did Dr Slippery say?" Asked
Rubyella's dad. "Dr Slippery said she has fainted from lack of
sleep we must find her a cosy place to sleep for a day or two"
Little Rhino repeated the doctor's advice. "We must follow the
doctor's orders" mumbled Rubyella's dad.

This time rather surprisingly he grasped one end of the
stretcher himself and demanded Rubyella grasp the other end.
Leaving Little Rhino to trot up beside Rubyella's mum and to make
sure she wasn't choking while regaining consciousness. After
some speedy slithering and trotting they found a rather cosy
clearing made by the tree branches twined together. Little
Rhino helped Rubyella and Rubyella's dad to haul Rubyella's mum
inside the den. They set Rubyella's mum down the floor still on
the stretcher and settled down for a nap for a goodnight's
sleep.

Chapter Thirteen Rubyella's mum wakes
up!

"What? Where am I? muttered Rubyella's mum. "It's ok
darling you fainted from lack of sleep, you'll be fine "said
Rubyella's dad . " Little rhino and I brought you to this cosy,
warm den "said Rubyella. Rubyella's mum's stomach grumbled " I'm
hungry" Rubyella's mum complained. " Here Ma. I brought some of
that disgusting grass food they gave when we were trapped".
"Thanks darling you're a star!" Rubyella's mum mumbled she took
one mouthful of the disgusting grass food and choked.

Little Rhino ran off he returned with a mango tree leaf
full of water and handed it to Rubyella's mum. She took it
gratefully and gulped down the contents. Then with extraordinary
effort she began to slither around the den, Rubyella supporting
her mother. Slowly and steadily they began to make their way out
of the den. A couple of times Rubyella's mum slipped but
Rubyella propped her up and continued to support her slithering
round the forest.

As they slithered round looking for Little Rhino's
family, Little Rhino couldn't help worrying about them. They
looked for about two hours before Little Rhino decided they
should find something to eat. " We don't want your mum fainting
again do we?" Little Rhino asked Rubyella.

Chapter Fourteen Rubyella's mum cooks a delicious
mango feast

" No we most certainly don't want Mum fainting again"
said Rubyella. " I think I am well enough to make my special
mango feast" piped up Rubyella's mum. "Alright mother but don't
strain yourself" said Rubyella. " But if you're cooking Little
rhino and I will get the ingredients for you-you rest here with
pa". " You just need lots of juicy mangoes" said Rubyella's mum.
Rubyella and Little Rhino dashed off into the forest Rubyella
caught the mangoes that Little Rhino was knocking off the trees,
by charging into their trunks headlong. After a couple of hours
of knocking mangoes from trees and catching them they had a very
large and juicy selection of mangoes. They hurtled back to
Rubyella's parents and delivered the mangoes. Rubyella's dad
was very good at fire starting and he made a nice big fire.
Rubyella's mum made a lovely mango feast ,it was the best one he
had ever tasted. It was even better the one Little rhino's
parents made before he was captured.

Chapter Fifteen Little Rhino gets
injured

" I feel like going for a walk now don't you?" asked
Little Rhino. "No, I think I will look after ma and pa for a bit
but you can go, we will stay here" replied Rubyella.

Little Rhino began to wonder around the forest he was
just thinking where his parents could be when… "Ouch!" Said
little rhino something pinched at his tail. He turned to see what
it was and saw a red rhino biter ant scuttling away. Little Rhino
whined with pain and he decided to go straight back to Rubyella's
family and complain to them about what had happened. After he
was through complaining to Rubyella's family, Rubyella's mum got
up and rubbed little rhino's bite with a mango tree leaf and it
felt much better.

Rubyella's mum explained how the mango tree leaf had
sucked out the poison the red rhino biter ant had injected into
him. Rubyella's mum said that he would be unable to travel much
for a whole day and a whole night otherwise he might faint. She
added he was far too big to carry if he did faint and so it
wasn't worth the risk.

Little Rhino was quite disappointed at this but agreed
that he should go back to the den accompanied by Rubyella's
family of course and rest for a day or two. So that's just what
they did of course everyone settled down because other than these
unfortunate incidents there hadn't scheduled any rest time into
their travel plans.

Chapter Sixteen Caring for Little Rhino

For a couple of days Little Rhino was treated like a
prince. " Here let me plump up your mango leaf pillows", said
Rubyella doing so. "Is your rhino biter ant bite still sore?"
asked Rubyella. Yes but I will probably be back on my feet by
tonight".

"I admire your braveness Little Rhino" hissed Rubyella
shyly. After a few hours he began huffing and puffing and was
eventually standing on his own four stubby feet. Suddenly he
felt great and began galloping around the den laughing and
giggling loudly, "I am better, I am better"! Then he hesitated a
bit, "But I couldn't have done it without you", giving Rubyella a
shy kiss. Rubyella blushed so red that her ruby dots seemed to
disappear, but she returned the compliment and gave him a quick
peck back.

As Little Rhino was suddenly feeling very energetic and
bright they decided to continue their journey onwards.

Little Rhino raced towards his parents as they raced
towards him. "Little Rhino, where have you been?" exclaimed his
mother. I was captured by the RH but luckily I met Rubyella and
she helped me to escape." He leaned closer and whispered, " I
think I might love Rubyella, please may I marry her?". Then she
crept closer to Little Rhino's father and whispered something, he
looked over to Little Rhino and gave a little nod. Then as a
family they walked over to Rubyella family and Little Rhino asked
Rubyella's father for Rubyella's hand or rather tail in marriage.
Rubyella's father hissed his agreement. So it was settled and
Little Rhino and Rubyella went for a little walk to celebrate,
whilst their parents made polite conversation and wondered
privately about how much the wedding would cost.